


The Scientist

by KungThomasDenTrettonde



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 21:02:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6440509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KungThomasDenTrettonde/pseuds/KungThomasDenTrettonde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day during Summer Term at Hogwarts Secondary School, the life of school rugby star Sirius Black changes for the better. He meets Remus Lupin, a shy guy, who agrees to tutor Sirius in the sciences. Despite Remus' knowledge of the sciences, he can't see the chemistry between them.</p><p>Modern Non-Magic AU set in a high school. Inspired by Coldplay's 'The Scientist' as covered by Holly Henry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tutoring

**Author's Note:**

> Another work being transferred from FanFiction.net in one go (up to Chapter Five). I hope you enjoy!

The sunlight glimmered through the leaves of the tree's bordering Gryffindor pitch. This was where the prestigious Hogwarts School's champion rugby team practised.

The team this year was one of the best yet. It's Prop, Ronald Weasley, it's Fly-Half, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and it's Number 8, Sirius Black, had all played at national level, all under 18 years old too. The whole team were very skilled, practising three times a week and often smashing their opposition in the inter-school tournaments. They even beat the Durmstrang Dragons, the best under 18 team in Scandinavia. Coach Hooch led the team; she had won the rugby at the Commonwealth Games at least three times.

Today's practise was rather lazy however. Easter half-term had just ended and it was only the third day back. Everyone was still rather lazy and with lessons back in full-swing, everyone was rather tired.

Coach Hooch looked down at her watch and sighed. They'd only been on the pitch forty-five minutes and nothing much had gotten done, only one or two drills.  
"Right Boys." she called out in her sharp voice. "You obviously aren't feeling it this afternoon. I'm calling practice off."  
Had this been said at any other point in term, it would have been met with groans. No rugby practise meant going to study periods. Today however was different, no protests came from any of the team.  
"Black, Potter, Runcorn, take the equipment back to the office. You're all dismissed."

Sirius, who had been all but off the pitch sighed, turned, and picked up the bag of balls and began walking. James Potter, Sirius' best friend ran to catch up.  
"You going to the Library for the study period or just gonna head back to the boarding house?" James asked.  
"Probably, I've got physics work from Professor Vector that I need to do which I need to beg Lily to help me do."  
James eyes lit up at the mention of her name. "Lily Evans..." he began, "can you introduce us?"  
"She knows who you are. Everyone knows you think she's Aphrodite reborn."  
"Still, we haven't properly been introduced."  
"Yes well, you can introduce yourself. I'm sure wooing her without introducing yourself by yourself would get off to a great start."  
"Okay fine. I will in the library, if you get her to come over to our table to help you rather than going over to her."  
"Alright, but you'd better not scare her off, cause if I don't get this work in, I'll never have free time again with the amount of detention she dishes out."

The two dropped off their bags of equipment at the sports office and went to get changed. Soon enough, they were back in their uniform and walking through the courtyard to the tall building that was the school library. It was a modern building, one side entirely windows, the rest of the walls covered in bookshelves.

The pair climbed the stairs to the sixth-form workplace on the top floor. It was relatively full, with about a fifth of their year and the year above in there. James immediately picked out Lily from the crowd sitting with her friends. Claiming an empty table, Sirius pulled out the worksheet set for them and his pencil case.

To say Sirius wasn't smart would be a lie. To say he's lazy wouldn't be. Sure, he spent most of his time doing rugby and going to parties, meaning he didn't get all his work in on time, but he had picked some of the most challenging subjects for A-Level. Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and History. His grades were passable, but he'd do better in the exams when all the extracurricular stopped to focus on work.

Walking up to Lily's table to ask for help had become a habit since their AS courses began in September. Lily bless her was always happy to help however. She was sitting at the table with three of her friends. All were rather quiet, focusing on their work, though Lily looked up as he came close.  
"Professor Vector's mechanics prep. Help, please." Sirius said.  
Lily just chuckled and stood up. "Back in a minute." she said to her table.  
She followed him back to his and James' table and sat down next to Sirius. James went a shade of Red brighter than Lily's hair, but she appeared not to notice.

"No, no you're using the wrong equation. You don't know time or final velocity yet." she said, scanning his work.  
"Okay, so which do I find?" Sirius asked.  
"Time would be better so you can use it for question six."  
"And for this one?" Sirius asked as he pointed to a question further down the sheet.  
"Just use E = mgh and you're fine."  
"Okay. Thank you, you're a lifesaver."  
"You really should check your notes or ask for tutoring or something."  
"Yeah, but you've said you can't tutor me as you don't have time."  
"My friend, you know Remus?"  
Sirius raked his brains. "The quiet guy, fairly good looking, smart?"  
"Yeah, he has to do a certain amount of hours tutoring for his IB course. I can ask him. He does Chemistry and Maths too so can help you there."  
"That'd be great."  
"Okay. I'll text you tonight and let you know what he says."  
"He isn't here now?"  
"No, he's IB, he'll have a lesson now."  
"Oh, right. Thanks for the help."  
"No problem." Lily smiled, then walked back to her table.

Sirius wrote down what she'd said on the sheet then turned to James.  
"You didn't say anything?"  
"I... I was too scared okay."  
"How unlike you, she won't bite. Well, maybe that's not appealing to you."  
James scowled. "How come you have her number?"  
"Because we're chemistry lab partners. We need to discuss our IA results and stuff."  
"Sure."  
"James, it's strictly friends. I know my reputation of seducing anyone remotely nice or attractive precedes me, but even I'm not an asshole who get's with my best mates crush."  
"I know. Just it's cute to girls if a guy is jealous, right?"  
"To a point. Now quit being weird, I've got work to do."

Sirius finally got the work finished, and just in time. The next lesson and last of the day was Physics with Professor Vector. Why the teachers were called Professor Sirius didn't know, seeing as this wasn't university and some of them never taught at a university. The lesson was a drag, covering projectile motion and complex equations that Sirius would not remember in a few months time for the exam. After the lesson, Sirius went back to the boarding house with James.

Checking his phone, Sirius saw a text from Lily.  
_'Remus is cool with it. Text him to sort out a time, and he's happy to do all 3 subjects if you want. Here's his number...'_

Sirius added the number to his contacts. He and James entered their boarding house. It was on the corner of Gryffindor Pitch and was named Gryffindor Tower as it was tall and somewhat round. Each room was a semi circle in shape and slept two or three people. The older students got the two person rooms which also had adjoining bathrooms, Sirius sharing his two person room with James. This was one of the boarding houses at the school, along with one nicknamed the Hufflepuff Basement due to being rather dingy. The other two were  Ravenclaw Tower by the Ravenclaw Hockey pitch where Lily lived and  one called the Slytherin Dungeon, where the house matron was apparently very harsh to the occupants.

Sirius sat on his bed writing a text to Remus while James started to get changed out of his uniform.  
_'Hey Remus. It's Sirius Black. Lily said you're happy to tutor me. I was wondering if I could meet you at supper tonight in the Hall to discuss times. Thanks.'_

He got a text back almost immediately.  
_'Sure. Will be there at 7:30,  I'll be on Gryffindor table."_

"James, you know Remus Lupin?" Sirius called, James having disappeared into their adjoining bathroom.  
"The IB guy Lily hangs around with. Why?"  
"He's gonna tutor me for maths and science. He's on Facebook right; I wanna be sure what he looks like so I can find him."  
"He's got brown hair, grey eyes, looks like a dork kind of."  
"Helpful." Sirius scanned Facebook, picking him out of Lily's friends list. "Damn. He is attractive."

Sirius could practically hear James roll his eyes. James had been the first person Sirius had come out to, and to be honest, the one he'd worried about most. Not because he was the first, but because they were best friends, and rejection wasn't something he dealt with well. Except when it was his family, who could go stuff it most of the time.

The two changed into their evening clothes and left the dorm. The two headed down to their common room. Taking their usual seats by the coffee machine, they sat and chatted for a while. Peter Pettigrew, a friend (although sometimes more like a devout follower) came and sat with them for a while too. They played a few card games with some others from their year before heading to the "Great Hall" for supper at quarter past seven.

It was called the Great Hall, though in reality it was just an old room which had been part of the original school centuries ago with four long tables and a teacher table in it. It was quite often packed; the school having quite a vast number of pupils, so different year groups came in for food at different times. The 6th Years came in at about seven with the 7th Years while the younger students came in earlier.

They picked up trays when they came in and joined the queue at one side of the wall to where food was being served. For a private school, the food was surprisingly good. After they had collected their meals, they found Lily sitting with a boy and two other girls on a table. They joined her.

Lily was sitting with a strange girl Sirius had seen a few times called Luna and another girl called Hermione. The two were both 5th years but Sirius knew of Hermione, for she was as smart as a graduate and would punch you spectacularly in the face if you pushed her. Luna was known for her eccentricity mostly, but both were nice and greeted them when they sat down.

The boy sitting with them was undoubtedly Remus Lupin. Sirius was to some extent taken aback. He was more attractive than in pictures, not as conventionally pretty but damn was he still tremendously handsome. He was quiet though, and Lily sensing the silence between Sirius and Remus intervened.  
"Just to be sure. Remus, Sirius. Sirius, Remus." she said, introducing the two.  
"Hey." Sirius said, breaking the short silence that followed. "Thanks for agreeing to tutor me. I'm hopeless at stuff like Physics but I'll put in the effort." _'Especially for a hottie like you'_ he then thought.  
"Wednesday 7+8 in the library good for you?" Remus asked quietly.  
"Yeah, okay. Top floor?"  
"Yeah, you'll find me in one of the corners out of the way."  
"Okay, I look forward to it." Sirius said, brightly. Remus didn't seem talkative, but Sirius would need his tutoring if he wanted to pass his A-Levels and go to university.  
"Yeah." Remus said, again quietly. He then stood up, sad a mumbled farewell to us all. Luna and Hermione followed him, and the three walked off together.  
"I don't think he likes me." Sirius told Lily immediately after the three were out of earshot.  
"Remus just gets nervous around people. He'll open up more once he gets to know you and you start tutoring." Lily assured him.  
"I hope so. It'll be hella awkward if he doesn't." Sirius mused.

Still, he could always just admire Remus' face during Tutoring when he was supposed to be working, as was the Sirius Black way.


	2. The Moment

Wednesday rolled around fast as days do at school, and even then the day flew by. Rugby practise at lunch break felt like it took half the hour it actually did, and soon enough Sirius was climbing the stairs with James up to the library for 7+8.

James patted Sirius on the shoulder.  
"Good luck dude. Don't make an arse of yourself."  
"When have I ever?" Sirius asked, trying to look innocent.  
"Don't make me answer that." James laughed and went to sit at a computer.  
Sirius took a breath and surveyed the room. It was fairly packed, probably about 40 people in here. He didn't see Remus. "Where is he?" Sirius asked himself. He then saw Remus, sitting quietly reading in a corner of the room. Walking over, he put his bag down. "Afternoon Remus."  
Remus obviously hadn't been paying attention so jumped when he heard his name. "Sirius, sorry, was a bit distracted." he said. He wasn't as quiet as before, though still at appropriate library volume.  
"That's fine. Whatcha reading?" Sirius asked. He wasn't a book guy, most of the time anyway, but he thought he should at least try and be friendly in the hopes this wouldn't be a complete failure and utterly awkward.  
"Tolstoy, War and Peace."  
At least Sirius knew that one, somewhat. "I can't say I've read it. Looks a rather daunting read, all those pages."  
Remus chuckled. "It is, but this is what the IB makes us do for English so I don't have a choice. Now, what do you want to do?"  
"Uhh, Physics right now would be good."  
"Okay. Well, what do you want to cover?"  
"Well my test this afternoon is on fluids and flow, so if we could start there that'd be great."  
"Fine with me."

Remus paused for a few moments. The sunlight from the windows shone across his face perfectly. The GCSE Photography student in Sirius just wanted to grab a camera.  
"How good are you on your definitions?" Remus asked.  
"Fairly decent." Sirius replied honestly.  
"Well you need to be good. If you don't know what the terms you use are, you can't do well. Still, let's see what you know. Laminar Flow?"  
"Uhh, the straight line one?"  
"No, what does it mean. What is laminar flow?"  
"I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea."  
"Okay then. Turbulent flow?"  
Sirius racked his brains. "The chaotic one with eddies."  
"Better, but you need more detail. Archimedes' principle?"  
"Oh. Um, Upthrust equals weight of fluid displaced?"  
"Good. What is Upthrust?" Remus said enthusiastically.  
"Shit."  
Remus sighed. "Okay, I guess we'll start with definitions. I'll give you a textbook definition, you give me the term. We'll do that three times, and then swap. So I'll give you the term, you give me the definition."  
"Okay."

  
To Sirius' surprise, it worked. He aced his test next period, and by that I mean he passed with higher than a C.   
Lily caught up to him after class. "So, how did you do?"  
"I got a B! I wasn't too far off an A too. Let me guess, A?"  
"Yep." Lily's grades were typically an A, unless it was something like Geography.   
"How this stuff sinks in to your brain I don't know."  
"Well Remus' tutoring must be working if you've already gone up three grades after just one hour."  
"It is. He's a very good teacher."  
"It's what he wants to do later I think."  
"We'll he'll do very well. Plus everyone appreciates a hot teacher more." Sirius could hear Lily's eyes rolling.  
"You know you shouldn't be so flirtatious with him." Lily said.  
"Why? It's a bit of playful fun, everyone knows that." Sirius replied.  
"Remus may be one of the smartest guys in the school but when it comes to flirting and romance he's a complete idiot. He doesn't receive much attention in that way, or he's told me he doesn't anyway, and I know you wouldn't want him to get the wrong impression." Lily said, somewhat sternly.  
"Christ Lily okay, I won't joke around with him. I'm just surprised he doesn't get much attention. He's smart and being completely honest he's damned gorgeous."  
"You've spoken to him. He's unsure how to act around people. I mean he's fine when he's out of his shell but that takes time for him."  
"Yeah. I won't joke around him, okay, well not in the flirty sense anyway. I promise."  
Lily smiled. "Good. Now, seeing as you didn't fail, to celebrate you can go buy me coffee and we can post-mortem the test."  
"Do we have to?" Sirius groaned.  
"It helps, when the grades are back anyway. Trust me; I've got straight A's."

It was the end of the day, and the sixth form at Hogwarts (the 6th and 7th years) were permitted to leave the grounds of the school and go into the nearby town, Hogsmeade, in the evenings. It was fairly developed but had once been a major trading town. The shops were updated, to an extent, and had some very good independent cafés and pubs.

Sirius and Lily headed to a small café next to the pub the Three Broomsticks. Both establishments were frequented by students of the school and locals alike for they were easily the best in Hogsmeade. The café itself was called Honeydukes, named after its owner. Sirius ordered Lily her usual White Mocha and got himself some tea.  
"Sure you don't want something stronger?" He asked as the server brought the drinks over. "We can go next door."  
"Sirius we've talked about you drinking mid-week so no. You're not turning out like that Rodolphus or Bellatrix who are too hung over in the mornings to even get dressed. Plus you've got to work tonight."

Both Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks often hired students to work the evening shifts. The pay wasn't bad and so you'd often see students working in here, ones whose parents couldn't afford much extra but the school fees... Sirius had a job in the pub doing bartending three evenings a week. Lily didn't have a job; her parent's being fairly wealthy. Sirius' were wealthy, but didn't exactly support him. That's a story for a whole other day.

"So, question 4, the air flow round the plane wing." Lily asked.  
"Aced it. It's laminar under the wing but turns turbulent." Sirius replied. "But with the cork floating in the water, what did you get the depth as?"  
"12 millimetres, you factored in the whole volume of cork in your calculations, not just the submerged bit."   
"Ah I see."  
"Can I ask... your friend James, is he really into me?" Lily asked suddenly.  
Sirius shrugged. "It seems that way. Or that's the impression I gather from him gasping the moment he sees you in the corridor."  
"Okay."  
"Why do you ask? You'd make his next seventeen Christmases if you were even slightly interested in him."  
"It's not that, I just wanted to confirm the multiple rumours going round." Lily said lightly, seeming like she was avoiding talking about it. She quickly changed the subject. "So when are you next getting tutored?"  
Sirius rolled his eyes. Lily Evans you are as obvious as a bull in a china shop. "Before the chemistry test on Tuesday. He's said he'll go through organic stuff with me and the mechanisms. But speaking of tests, Question 17 and the bubbles in the chocolate..."

They argued over the method and answers to a few questions before time came for Sirius' shift to start. Lily hugged him goodbye then began walking back in the direction of School. Sirius just walked into the pubs backdoor.

It led into a cloak room and then the kitchens. Stashing his jacket and wallet in a locker, Sirius changed into his bartending shirt and went out behind the bar. It was a fairly long bar so two of them normally worked it. He worked Monday nights with a girl in the year above, Marlene McKinnon and Wednesdays and Friday nights with Luna Lovegood in his year. Luna was lovely, if slightly out of place in a pub, and the two had great banter and fun when they were bartending together.

Luna was already there mixing cocktails when Sirius came out into the bar. She smiled at him before serving a trendy Londoner her cosmopolitan.  
"Evening Sirius." she said, sounding slightly off-in-the-clouds as usual.  
"Hey Luna. Looks like it's gonna be a busy night."  
"Yeah, I was speaking to the woman at the bar, some conference is being held nearby so a load of city folk are down and well this is the best rated pub on trip-advisor."  
Sirius laughed, and began taking orders. They were busy that night, Sirius producing all drinks from regular pints and wine to cocktails of every colour. Even at eleven when He and Luna's shift ended, the place was still packed. They handed over to the night guys, a couple of locals from the town, collected their stuff and began the walk back to school.

Tuesday rolled around quickly, and even then the day flew by. Mathematics first double, a free then Physics. Rugby practise at Lunch break and then into Periods 7 + 8, where one would fine Remus raking his hands through his hair in the almost empty library with Sirius.  
"No, no, no!" Remus exclaimed, though still quiet enough for the library. "You keep mixing up your naming. It's the main functional group at the end of the name, and you have to use the longest carbon chain."  
"See, none of this naming stuff makes sense. It was easier at GCSE." Sirius said.  
"Well you've got to know it. It's the basics of organic chemistry. The name you gave this and it's actual one are so different you've got two completely different chemicals almost."  
"Right." Sirius said, sighing. "I'm not gonna get this."  
"Yes you are, it just takes practise. Look, I'll sketch you some stuff, you tell me what it is."  
Remus busied himself over a sheet of paper with a pencil and passed it over when he was done.  
"2, 2-dimethyl-pentanoic acid?" Sirius said pointing to one.  
"Yeah, and the next one?" Remus asked.  
"3-Chloro-hexanol?"  
"You're getting it!" Remus said, excitedly. "The third?"  
"That's Alanine so...  2-aminopropanoic acid."  
"Yes. Is that the l or d isomer though?" Remus asked, leaning in.  
Sirius looked at the sheet carefully. "Okay I don't know." He looked up, and gasped slightly seeing Remus face was quite close to his.  
"Fair enough, it's unlikely you'll be tested on it, yet anyway." Remus said. "It's the l-isomer by the way."

A moment passed, but it felt longer. Sirius looking up from over the paper, eyes locked with Remus. Everything around seemed still, the dust floating in sunlight stationary in the air.  
_'His eyes...'_ Sirius thought. They were bright, but behind the green of the iris there seemed to be something else. Distraction, Attraction, loneliness? Sirius couldn't tell, but what he did know was that if he was to ever go in for a kiss, now might be the time.

Sirius began to lean in further slowly, but before he could move a millimetre, Remus turned his head. The moment shattered to pieces. Luckily Sirius caught this, changing his movement to a cocking of the head.  
Remus looked at him again. "What?"  
"Oh, nothing. Just... stretching my neck." Sirius replied, quickly.  
"Fair enough. I've got an English single next, so I've got to head off. When do you want to meet next?"  
"Can we just make it a regular time each week?"  
"Sure.  We only share these free periods though."  
"Okay, well. Let's make it this period each week?"  
Remus shuffled. "I'd need at least another half an hour for it to count for Service hours. How about this period and an hour Wednesday study evening?"  
"I work on Wednesday. How about Thursday evening study periods?"  
"Sure. I'll see you Thursday then." Remus smiled, tapping the dates into his phone. With that done, he put his phone in his pocket, turned and walked off.

Sirius waited until Remus had left the top floor room then exhaled. "Close one." he whispered to himself. He wasn't sure why he wanted to kiss Remus, heck he barely knew him though he was rather attractive. Sirius sighed again, stood up and began packing up his things. Even if he wasn't sure how he felt about Remus, he couldn't deny he looked forward to Thursday's tutor session not only to improve his grades.

  



	3. Ignorance

For the following three or four week, Sirius was abnormally busy. Now that the Winter term was in full flow, with the Christmas break fast approaching, the days had gotten darker. Dew ,or even snow some mornings, adorned the grass.

It was one of these mornings, a Saturday in particular, which saw Sirius and Lily trudging together through the school gates heading out into town. Both were wrapped up in coats, as even though the snow in the mornings didn't hang around, the cold bite of the wind did.

"Remind me why you're dragging me out here?" Lily asked, teeth slightly chattering as she did.  
"It's the party at the Gryffindor tower tonight. I need to get some drinks." He put his arm over Lily's shoulder and pulled her in close to keep warm.  
"And I'm here because?"  
"I wanted company. James went home last night and usually I'd drag him here."  
"You couldn't go by yourself?" Lily chatters.  
"I could, but I'd prefer not to. I won't be long, promise, and if all goes well there may be a hot drink in it for the both of us."  
"There better be." Lily said quietly. "I'm not getting pneumonia for you Black."

The walk really wasn't long but in the cold it took a while longer. People who normally walked around town were in their cars, so the roads were busier to cross. A few bottles of various drinks purchased later, Lily and Sirius were sitting down in the café, hot chocolates in front of them and sighing.  
"So, who's invited to the party tonight?" Lily asked, sipping her hot chocolate carefully.  
"Gryffindor sixth form, obviously. Then some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sixth form. I don't think any Slytherin guys are invited."  
"I wouldn't expect it; they didn't invite you to their party last weekend. Well they didn't invite anyone out of the other houses."  
"One of the many reasons." Sirius assured Lily. "And don't worry; James will be back later today so he'll be there for you to drunken flirt at."  
Lily blushed. "I never said..." she began, then paused."I don't like him."  
"Fair enough, I don't sometimes either." Sirius smiled.  
Lily knew he didn't quite believe her.  
"So, you gonna have time to get all your work done this weekend with the party. We've got that physics essay on Fields and I know you have that past paper for rates and entropy to do for Chemistry."  
Sirius laughed. "If only you knew. I've also got three essays for history. Three!"  
"Stalin?" Lily asked.  
"Yeah, and Lenin, and then the assassination of Kennedy. It's like Binns doesn't even know he's already set us two then he goes and sets us another."  
"He's not there half the time mentally anyway. I mean, I slept during the GCSE lessons." Lily replied. "You can always get Remus to go through one of the essays with you, or if not to go through the chemistry paper."  
"I can do my own work thanks." Sirius said, gruffly. He would however. He'd gone to see Remus fairly often over the past month about prep he'd been set. Remus, the saint he was, had put down whatever he was doing to go through it with him.

Sirius wasn't lying, he could do his own work, and while Remus was still a great help to him, the academics weren't the only thing that drew him to the tutor sessions. It wasn't Sirius' fault his ever so smart tutor was ever so attractive. Intelligence was sexy by itself, but Remus was cute in his eyes.

Lily, who knew him so well, instantly picked up his thoughts. "You are going to study aren't you?" she asked, a solitary eyebrow raised.  
Sirius put on a look of fake shock. "You figured out my plan all along!" he said, aghast.  
"I wouldn't put it past you." she replied flatly.  
Now Sirius was properly shocked. "Rude, I don't have that bad of a reputation."  
Lily laughed. "Well we all remember last year, when you made sixth-former Cedric Diggory drop his girlfriend overnight for you."  
"Besides that. Shame he wasn't really any good, considering how hot he was."  
"Well, everyone knows that you and Professor Scamander saw each other in the summer after he left to travel the world."  
"It was out of school, he was young enough for it not to be too weird."  
Lily cocked the other eyebrow at him this time.  
"Sirius, I can read you like a book sometimes, and you shouldn't think that way of Remus, I doubt his girlfriend would be pleased after."  
The already planned retort lodged in Sirius' throat. He coughed, and asked, "Girlfriend?"  
"Marlene, the pretty one, hangs with Luna sometimes, soprano, ring any bells?"  
Sirius racked his brains, then the face struck him. "Her! Really?"  
Lily gave him the eye. "Well I wouldn't lie about it. Why are you so interested."  
"He and I have been texting each other and talking for over a month and were pretty good friends, He just never mentioned it."  
Lily nodded, seeming to believe it (or pretending to at least) because she was right, as always, that maybe in the back of his mind, Sirius did want Remus, and not sweet tutor crush style. "They aren't very PDA, but they've been together for almost six months. "  
"I haven't heard anything off the rumour mill about them though."  
"Like I said, Remus hung around with them anyway, and since they aren't making out on the teachers table at lunch or whatever, people don't really know, nor care."  
Sirius just nodded. "Anyway, we should head back soon." he stood, as did Lily picking up her handbag. "I know you need at least twelve hours to get rid of the warts and green skin look alone."  
He ducked as she swung her handbag at him, laughing.  
"Takes you longer, and that's just to do your hair."  
"True." he said, patting it. "But Don't I just look fine?"

-

"Fuck." he whispered to the open air.  
The sunlight burnt his eyes, though that was only one of the two problems he noticed, the others being the fact that this was **not** his room he had woken up in, and that he was certainly not alone. He daren't move, though craned his neck slightly to look at who was in bed with him. There was a back, and a nice one at that, and above it a head of dark hair.

All of a sudden, the body shifted, rolling over slightly. He held his breath, though they lay asleep still. A few moments passed. He rubbed his eyes and looked again clearly at the person in bed with him. "Double shit." whispered Remus.

He was in bed, naked, with Sirius Black.

Triple Shit.

~~~

"MORNING PRINCESS!"  
Sirius bolted awake, eyes wide. Lily laughed at him.  
"Urgh, my head."  Sirius said after a moment to compose himself, "I don't remember a thing."  
Lily's eyes flash. "Nothing eh?"  
"No... why? Shit, what did I do."  
"Nothing, relax" she reassured. "You crashed up here towards the end, I crashed downstairs and woke up in a cupboard with Katie Bell, who was as surprised as I was waking up in a cupboard together.

He was oblivious, she thought, and best to keep it that way. She'd seen it all an hour previously. She had gone to wake Sirius when she had met Remus at the door.  
"Remus" she had asked.  
"Lily."  
"What... What were you doing in there?"  
"I... nothing. Nothing worth concerning yourself with." he said, pushing past her.  
"Your trouser zip was down." She calls after him.

It was only now however that Lily clicked it together fully in her head. It had been obvious what had happened the previous night, but now the concequences where coming clear. Remus had slept with Sirius. Remus had cheated on Marlene. And from the looks of it, both were either ignorant or playing-ignorant of both facts.

  



	4. Hangovers

Sirius previously 'perfect' hair had not lasted long it seemed. The party had only been going on for around half an hour but the throng of people in the common room made it feel like a weeklong rave.

He staggered through the crowd, leaning against a wall for support.  
"Anaconda certainly took it out of you didn't it." A voice said.  
Sirius looked up. "Oh my god hey! You saw didn't you."  
The voice chuckled. "How could I not. Don't worry, I'm already too drunk to remember in the morning."  
"Unless someone filmed it on their phone." Sirius laughed.  
The voice joined in. "Yeah, and then everyone will know."  
"That Gryffindors party hard? Everyone already knows, hence why everyone is here."  
"No. That you've got some serious moves..."

~~~

"My head." Sirius groaned.  
"I'd tell you not to drink so much JD, Jäger, and whatever you get your hands on next time, but you'll just ignore me. Like this time, and the time before." Lily says.  
The two are sitting together at the breakfast table. Most of the Gryffindor table are still missing, as are the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.  
"It was crazy wasn't it." Sirius says, downing a couple of Paracetamol and grabbing a roll of bread.  
"Yes. What do you remember?" Lily asked, dishing him some bacon onto a plate.  
"Anaconda, drinking, not much else." he said.  
Lily looked at him seriously. "You sure? Didn't get with anyone or anything?"  
"Not to my knowledge. You woke me up, the bed was empty but me wasn't it."  
"Well, I don't know, someone could have skipped out earlier." Lily hypothesised.  
Sirius sniggered. "Plus, who there would I have got with. The only guy who's remotely homosexual is me."  
"You don't know that. What if it was a girl too?" she asked.  
"Thinking or looking at girls like that gives me whatever the opposite of a boner is, you know that."  
Lily just nods, and sips at her orange juice.

Sirius bites into his bacon roll."How about you."  
"Nothing I remember." Lily says, blushing.  
Sirius looks her deep in the eye. "You didn't." Lily just nods. "James?"  
"God no." Lily says, tucking into some pancakes. "It's even more extreme."  
"A girl?" Sirius asks. "Yes! It was, who?" he continues at Lily's blush.  
"Okay. It's rather fragmented memory wise, but I was doing a bit more than kissing with ... Cho."  
Sirius' roll drops out his hands. "Cho Chang?" He asks. Lily nods. "Nice one! No idea she swung that way, or you (much) for that matter."  
"Judging by last night she does. And she's had practise."  
"Oh god the imagery." Sirius exclaims, covering his ears.

The two head up to the library. Study periods are compulsory today, and not many people come from the house to the library so it's always worth working here. Except today, it's not empty.

Lily and Sirius put their bags down on the table beside Remus.  
"Morning."Sirius says brightly. "Have a nice time last night."  
Remus blushed. "Yeah, thanks." he says briskly.  
"I'm just gonna go get that textbook from downstairs." Sirius says, pushing through the door. Lily sits down.  
"I know what happened Remus." she says.  
"I don't want to talk about it." Remus replies.   
"Don't worry, Sirius has forgotten." she tells him.  
"But I haven't. I've got to go see Marlene later. What am I supposed to do, Ignore it or tell her I was balls deep in his pretty mouth last night?" he hisses.  
Lily sighs. "Firstly, TMI, secondly, whatever you want."  
"Not helping."  
"Well I can't with this. I was involved in this no way whatsoever."  
"I... I don't know what to say. I really like Marlene, but..."  
"But what?" Lily says.  
Remus opens his mouth to continue but Sirius barges through the door again and sits down.   
"Nothing like Acid-Base Equilibria to really knock the hangover out of you, eh Remus?" he says.  
"Yeah, nothing like it." Remus replies, somewhat sourly, before putting his headphones back in.

A couple of hours later, Remus departs to go see Marlene.  
"What was up his arse?" Sirius asks.  
"No idea. Hangover perhaps?"  
"He seemed angry."  
"Well not everyone is as practised at immediate hangover recovery as you."  
"Whatever. What did you get for question 7."  
"Bromothymol Blue, basic." Lily starts. "You didn't do anything to piss him off last night?"  
"What no!"  
Lily put her book down. "I know you think he's hot, and god knows what if Drunk Sirius made a play for him?"  
"Drunk Sirius isn't that much of an idiot."  
"He is. Remember, he texted your dad telling him you liked sucking dick."  
"That was one time."  
"Which essentially got you disinherited Sirius. Just try to remember."  
Sirius sighed. "What do you think I'm doing."  
"Not studying for one. Come on, the practical on Monday, get practising."

 

"Remus!" Marlene said, pulling him into a hug. "How was the party?"  
Remus gulped. "It was great. Wasn't as fun without you."  
"That goes without saying."  
"Marlene... I"  
"What? What is it Remus?"  
"I... missed you."  
She smiled at him. "I missed you too."  
Shit.


End file.
